{"product_id":"inspired-not-by-accident","title":"Inspired Not By Accident","description":"\u003cp\u003e“The commentators were ecstatic after the game. ‘He played like a man inspired,’ they said. What images does that conjure up for you? A sports star, perhaps, running rings round the opposition and scoring a brilliant goal. Or, from a different world, a musician: eyes closed, fingers flying to and fro on an instrument, filling the air with wonderful jazz. ‘Inspiration’: we use the word loosely. We imply that ‘it just came over them,’ that they suddenly became someone different. Of course we know that it didn’t happen like that. The brilliant athlete has been training and practising, hour after hour and week after week. The musician has been playing exercises, perfecting technique for long hours out of the public eye. Then, when the moment comes, a surge of adrenalin produces a performance which we call ‘inspired’—but which is actually the fruit of long, patient hard work. When Jesus said ‘the Spirit of the Lord is upon me’, Luke has already let us into the secret. His years of silent preparation. His life of prayer leading up to his baptism. The confirmation of his vocation—and then its testing in the wilderness. Then, at last, going public with early deeds in Capernaum (as the exchange in the Nazareth synagogue makes clear, people had already heard of what he’d done elsewhere)” (N. T. Wright, \u003cem\u003eLuke for Everyone\u003c\/em\u003e [London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004], 46–47).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ministry Pass","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52704860897596,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0852\/9874\/1564\/files\/music.jpg?v=1770078720","url":"https:\/\/app.ministrypass.com\/products\/inspired-not-by-accident","provider":"Ministry Pass","version":"1.0","type":"link"}